Influence of the coating material on the loosing of dental implant abutment screw joints

Dental implant abutment screw joints tend to loosen and prosthesis rotation has been observed under clinical conditions. Some dental implant manufacturers suggest coated abutment screw to prevent the displacement of dental prosthesis. In the present work, the opening torque (N cm) was measured as a function of tightening torque (N cm) for dental implant abutment screws coated with four different materials (TiC, TiCN, Teflon and Parylene) to clarify the influence of the coating material on abutment screw stability and to analyze the relationship between preload and opening torque. On a first series of tests, closing and opening torque (N cm) of abutment screws without coating and with coating tightened to 20, 30, 32, 35 and 40 N cm was recorded. In a second series of tests, changes in opening torque values were analyzed after successive closures that were tightened at constant values of 30, 32 and 35 N cm. On a third series of tests, abutment screws without coating and with Teflon coating were tightened to 32 N cm and submitted to cyclic loading. The results showed that for all abutment screws the opening torque was less than the tightening torque. For a given applied tightening torque (35 N cm), the screws without a coating had the highest opening torque (31.6 ± 0.9 N cm [mean ± S.D.]). The screw coated with TiN had the smallest average opening torque (12.2 ± 0.6 N cm) after tightening at 20 N cm. A progressive decrease in opening torque values was measured in all screw groups after repeated closures. After six retightenings (35 N cm) a statistically significant difference (P < .05) was observed in opening torque among uncoated Ti screw group (31.5 ± 0.6 N cm) and coated screw tested groups (Parylene = 29.6 ± 0.4, Teflon = 29.1 ± 0.7). Under cyclic loading Ti screws without coating are more stable than Teflon coated screws. The present work suggests that one must be aware of the magnitude of the opening torque when specifying a certain coating/preload combination. The present methodology shows how to calculate the relevant quantities.